A business or enterprise may store information about various items in the form of electronic records. For example, a company might have an employee database where each row in the database represents a record containing information about a particular employee (e.g., the employee's name, date of hire, and salary). Moreover, different electronic records may actually be related to a single item. For example, a human resources database and a sales representative database might both contain records about the same employee. In some cases, it may be desirable to consolidate multiple records to create a single data store that contains a single electronic record for each item represented in the database. Such a goal might be associated with, for example, an automated master data management application and/or a data steward that attempt to automatically recognize or match these records to create a correct “master” data store. Advantages associated with creating such a master data store might include increased efficiency through the enterprise and/or improved customer service. For example, when a sales representative retrieves a customer record, the master data store might include contact information that would have been missing if information from multiple sources were not correctly matched and merged.
The consolidation process in a master data management program can be a relatively time consuming and/or expensive task, especially when a substantial number of records (e.g., millions of records) and/or input data sources are involved. It can be difficult, however, to determine the advantages created by the master data management program. For example, an enterprise might be unsure if it should devote the employee hours and/or costs associated with a master data management program without understanding the benefits it will provide.
Accordingly, methods and mechanisms for accurately and efficiently demonstrating the results of a master data management program may be desired.